Unlikely Duo
by rephiamluvers123
Summary: Chloe has to switch schools again, but this time it's not because of her father's business. As she battles with her own personal issues, the boy next door has caught her attention. Will she be able to balance her new crush/love with her own inner battles? Chloe is struggling with allowing these new people see her true self.
1. Chapter 1

**This is my first dp fix, so hopefully it goes well.**

Chapter 1: Moving In

CPOV

"I should be home in a couple of months. Your Aunt Lauren said she would come by every once in awhile to check on you." My father kissed my forehead and then ran out the door, briefcase in hand.

"Love you, too, dad," I mumbled as I watched the taxi drive off from the window.

I looked around our new home and sighed as my eyes laid upon the boxes that littered the living room. There wasn't a lot left, just some picture frames and other decorations. The tv, couch, and other furniture had already been put together and in place everywhere in the house. I decided to wait to put away the living room and bound up the stairs to my own bedroom.

I was finally finished putting away my clothes and started putting up my posters when the doorbell suddenly rang. I didn't think it was my Aunt since I knew she would be working. Dad had his key, unless he lost it, and of he had forgotten anything he would have had the taxi turn around a lot faster. I made my way back down stairs, but first checked myself in the side mirror. I was shiny with sweat and my hair was in a messy ponytail, but at least I wasn't disgusting looking. If anything, it was a package that I would have to sign for.

Without checking the peephole I swung the door open to see three well dressed people. My eyes widened and I looked down at my own attire briefly, I had on a loose light blue top and my bright pink sports bra was very visible and pink loose Pink sweats. It seemed to be a dad and two siblings. "Uhm, h-h-hello."

"Oh, god, she's broken. Simon, try hitting her to see if she restarts," said the girl.

My cheeks flaired and the boy slapped her arm. "Tori, shut up."

"Sorry, my name's Kit, and these are my kids, Simon and Tori. We live next door."

"Oh!" was all I said, not knowing how exactly to go about the situation. "Do you want to come in and have a glass of water?" Hopefully that didn't sound creepy. "There's still a lot of boxes, but our chairs and table are set up."

"Got any food?" Tori said and Kit gave her a look.

I laughed. "Yeah, we have some snacks, I still haven't gone to the store so nothing much." I opened the door a bit wider. "Please, come in."

Tori stepped through with confidence, looking around and analyzing my new house and Simon gave me a bright smile while Lot gave me a respective nod. Simon seemed to look like his father the most. Matching dirty blonde hair and almond shaped eyes. Tori had black long hair with rounder eyes and was a bit shorter than Simon, but still taller than me. I led them to the kitchen/dining room and pulled out a cups from boxes and poured water into them.

"I have some cookies if you'd like." Tori replied with a 'yes please' and Simon and Kit made noises that they agreed. "I'm Chloe, by the way."

"Is your father home? We actually brought some veggies from our garden, if you'd like,I saw him helping you along with the other workers to bring the boxes inside," Kit said, holding up the bag I only just realized he was holding. My Aunt would kill me if she knew I didn't even realize he was holding something.

"Thank you. He actually just left."

"Oh? Where did he go?" Simon asked, throwing a cookie into his mouth.

"He has a business trip, won't be back for a while."

"And you have to unpack all by yourself?" Tori asked, looking around.

"We don't have a lot of stuff, I'm used to it. So, do you all go to the local high school?" they nodded. "What grade?"

"Tori is a junior and Simon and my other son, Derek, are seniors. Are you going to be transferring in?" I nodded.

"Yes, I'll be going in as a Junior, hope I see you around. Where's Derek?"

"He has basketball practice, he's the captain this year. I play too, but Saturday practices are actually optional. I got dragged into greeting the new neighbor since I normally don't go…" his eyes widened as he realized what he just said. He looked down shamefully and mumbled an apology.

"No problem, I don't normally go out of my way with social interactions necessary, either." I was pretty proud of myself for not stumbling my words. I was happy they had such an easy going atmosphere around them and it was much easier to talk to them. Simon visibly brightened at my understanding and Tori rolled her eyes.

"Will you be joining any sports?"

I laughed. "Ha, no. I can't catch anything unless it's with my face. I run occasionally, but not for very long periods of time because I have a tendency to trip. I'll stick with theater."

Tori and Simon scrunched up their noses and Kit laughed at their expressions. "Our family likes to play a lot of sports."

"I play volleyball," Tori mentioned.

"I think we've stayed long enough, we wouldn't want to get in the way of your unpacking. Maybe, when your father gets back, we can all have dinner together. Will you be starting school on Monday?" I nodded. "Then I'll make sure Simon introduces Derek to you." I nodded again. "It was nice meeting you, Chloe."

"Hey, if you need help with unpacking, I'd be happy to…"

"That's a _great idea."_ Kit cut in. I looked at home with wide eyes, not entirely sure why he was giving Simon a look. "How about Simon and Derek tomorrow and help you out?"

"Oh, I wouldn't want to impose-"

"Nonsense, what time would you like them over?"

I felt like shrinking back, not sure how to refuse him, so I sighed and gave in. "Noon sound good?" Lit nodded and Simon looked a little deflated. Tori seemed to be holding back laughter and I just stood in confusion as they all left my house.

Thinking over the weird interaction I just had, I put the vegetables in my fridge and ran back upstairs to finish decorating my room. Afterwards I went back downstairs and unpacked the kitchen. With the two most important rooms in the house finished, I decided to call it quits and ran back up the stairs for a shower.

I sighed, remembering as I walked in that nothing in here was unpacked either. I sank down to the floor to give myself a breather, staring at the ceiling. _Why must I have to go through this every single time?_

I was happy that I only had a year and a half of school left. It was going to be torture to have to be the new girl all over again, but I had to. After everything that happened at my old school… well I needed the fresh start. I shivered thinking of the past, but quickly threw that memory to the side and pulled out shampoo, conditioner, and body wash from the bathroom box and jumped into the shower.

Once I was back in my room, towel wrapped around my shivering body, I moved to the window to close my curtains before changing. I looked across to the other house and froze as I realized someone was in the window.

I couldn't help but stare at the tall dark skinned hot guy that was shirtless in the house next to me. I hadn't realized how long I had been frozen there, staring at him, until he himself turned and our eyes were locked. My cheeks went red and I stepped back and slipped. With a small scream I flew back but landed on my bed. The towel was still secure around my body and I covered my face with my hand as I stood and swiftly closed the curtains, not daring to see his face or anything else for that matter after having completely embarrassed myself. I changed into pajama shorts and a baggy long sleeve and exited my room, not even glancing at the closed curtains.

I made my way downstairs to make myself some instant soup for dinner. Like I said, I hadn't exactly gone grocery shopping so I would let my unhealthy eating slide for at least one night. The water was heating when suddenly a knock sounded on my door. Maybe some other neighbors?

I quickly made my way to the door and opened it to reveal the guy who I had been ogling nearly minutes ago. My eyes widened and I looked down at my apparel to see it didn't even look like I was wearing shorts under my shirt and my hair was still wet. I slammed the door shut.

 _Oh my god did i just slam the door on him? Okay, just breath. Try opening the door and pretending like nothing happened. Why is he even here? Is he going to sue me for peeping? Oh my god._

My thoughts we interrupted my a soft knock and I swung the door back open. "H-h-h-hi."

His black hair was wet and shaggy, he must have taken a shower too, and he was wearing a black baggy long sleeve shirt with grey sweatpants. I saw his bright green eyes peak from under his black hair and a small smile peaking at the edge of his lips. "Hi. Uh, are you okay?"

 _Hell, yeah I'm okay, do you know what I'm looking at right now?_

"W-w-what?"

"I saw you fall."

"Oh." We stood there in silence. I was obviously okay, but I couldn't help but keep staring. He stood there awkwardly and I shivered as a breeze came from outside. "Crap, it's f-f-freezing. W-w-would y-y-y-you like t-t-to come in-inside?"

I cursed at myself for stuttering. I opened the door a bit wider and he awkwardly stepped inside. "I'm not that cold."

"Oh." _Wow chloe, what awesome vocabulary you have._ My cheeks flushed and I closed the door. "Soup?"

"What?" he asked, startled.

"I have soup."

"Oh, uhm, sure."

"Its the least I can do, you were checking up on me and all."

He scratched the back of his neck. "Uh, yeah."

 _Omygod I have a hot guy in my house and I offered him soup? Wtf? WHY CHLOE, WHY?_

I lead him to the kitchen and noticed the water was ready. I had only put enough for myself so I poured more water inside and decided to reheat it so we would eat at the same time.

I sat across from him and it was silent for a while. "I'm Chloe."

"Derek."

"Oh, you're the basketball player."

He rose an eyebrow and I wanted to smack myself with how creepy I sounded. "No, uh, your dad came by earlier, with veggies, and they said you were at basketball practice."

"Yeah." I was kind of scared he would bring up the fact that I was staring at him. My nightmare came true as he said, "Nobody has lived here for a while so I don't usually close my curtains… wasn't expecting someone to be watching."

"Oh, god." I whispered and threw my face into my hands. "I'm so sorry."

This made him laugh which only made my face even brighter. "It's alright, just unexpected."

I put my face down on the table and groaned. "Please don't tell on me for peeping." He chuckled at that, too. "I'm serious!"

"No offense, but I don't think anyone would believe _you_ were the one peeping on _me._ "

"Pft, please. No one willingly peeps on me." I set my chin on my hands on the table and looked up into his green eyes and saw something swimming in them as his eyes flickered over my face. They finally reached my eyes and I began to hold my breath. _Would he want to peep on me?_ I almost gleaned again at how unromantic my mind was and then the pot started to beep, saying it was ready. I abruptly stood and made my way to the counter, very conscious of how exposed my legs were while a hot guy was in my kitchen. My body felt like it was getting hotter by the second since I could feel his eyes on me.

"Chicken or shrimp?"

"Chicken." He mumbled. His voice was pretty deep, no doubt having already finished his awkward puberty stage. For me, I feel like I'm still living in it. I poured the water into our cups and turned around to see he was still staring at me intently. My blush still not having gone away I made my way back to the table. "I texted my dad saying I wouldn't be eating dinner."

"Sorry I don't have anything better."

"I wasn't really expecting anything at all, honestly. I only met you like 20 minutes ago."

"You…. Are right." was all I had to say

He slipped another smile, and I smiled back, which made his eyes widen in surprise and his green eyes twinkle. "You have a nice smile." He murmured and at this point my ears must have been red.

"So do you." I grabbed myself some chopsticks. "Chopsticks or fork?"

"Fork."

"What, you don't know how to use chopsticks?" he grunted in response. "Really? Should I teach you."

"Maybe another time." _Another time, meaning he wanted to hang out with me alone in my house again? I wouldn't mind that._ He himself seemed to realize what he just said and added, "If you want to."

"Yeah!" I replied a little too quickly. "You, uh, can come over whenever you like."

We ate in silence for a while before I tried to strike up a conversation. "So, what's the school like?"

"It's alright, the typical high school. Everyone is in some kind of clique or something."

"So you're in the jock group, I presume?"

He shook his head. "No, not really. Besides Simon, I don't hang out with the rest of the guys as much."

"So what are you, then?"

"I honestly just hang out with Simon, Tori, and her friend Liz."

"Oh."

"What was your old school like?" I tensed, which he seemed to realize. Before he could try to ask or change the subject I quickly relaxed and started talking.

"It was a private school for Arts. We were pretty much split up into whatever art we did. I hung out with writers and Theater kids."

"So you're a theater kid."

"Wow when you say it like that it makes it 10 time better," I replied sarcastically.

"Oh, so she finally shows a personality."

"Asshole!" I said, although I had a smile on my face which he seemed to replicate.

"Prick."

"Know-it-all."

"Not much of an insult if it's true." I stuck my tongue out at him and he went back to eating. He sipped down the hot water and I watched as some of it dripped down the side of his mouth. He set down the cup and I was still staring as he licked his lips, still missing some that had fallen. I reached out swiped it with my finger and then put it in my mouth.

Both our eyes widened as it sunk in what I just did. "I-I-I, uh… desert?"

"No, I don't want to eat your entire kitchen." He stood.

"Let me walk you out."

He just grunted. I kept my head low and he opened the door. Turning around briefly to wave. I waved back. I shut my eyes, mentally scolding myself for scaring him off and was about to close the door when a pressure stopped me from doing so. I jumped and yelped in surprise and fell back on my butt. I looked up to see a horrified Derek.

"Shit, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to."

"No big deal, I fall over a lot."

"At least I know you're wearing shorts now."

I did my best to not go bright in the face again and asked, "What do you need."

"I was going to ask… if you wanted my phone number."

I stared blankly. "Uhm sure." I ran to the kitchen where I first left my phone and came back to see he was still standing in the doorway. He gave me his number and I saved it.

"See you tomorrow." and he closed the door.

 _Tomorrow?_

And that's when I remembered that Derek and Simon were coming over to help me unpack.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: A Good Day

DPOV

She was beautiful, and it was painful to watch her.

When I had first gotten home from practice, all I could hear about was the girl who moved in next door. Tori didn't like her much, saw her as quiet and shy, but Tori didn't really like anyone. Simon had taken a liking to her. It was almost annoying how he kept saying how cute she was. Normally Simon and I don't have similar tastes, due to the fact I didn't really have a taste, I wasn't one to date much. Actually, I've never dated at all.

I was surprised to see the pale petite girl in a towel across from my window. And instantly I knew I was attracted to her. Her hair had been wet and hanging in clumps and I could see the shiny drops of water on her freckled skin. I almost jumped out the window when she fell back. I had become relaxed when she was able to stand and closed the curtain. I had closed mine in return and began pacing back and forth. _Was she Ok? Did she hurt herself?_ I slipped on my long sleeve over my sweats and sped down the stairs.

"I'll be back."

"Where are you going?"

Deciding it was best not to say I saw the beautiful neighbor who had been staring at me fell over and I was was worried I said, "Going for a walk."

"K, tell me if you decide to have dinner with us."

I only grunted and made my way outside and quickly walked to the gigantic house next door. She obviously had some money. And according to everyone else, she was home alone. Would it be weird that I came over knowing she was home alone?

I didn't regret it though, it was nice of her to offer me food. I was actually starving since I had just gotten back from practice. One cup of noodle didn't fill me, but I wasn't going to tell her that.

She hadn't texted me that night, and somehow that made me more nervous when Simon and I got ready to go over the next day.

"You ready?" Simon came from his room that was on the first floor. I was sitting on the living room, finishing off an apple. I grunted in response, slipped on my shoes and followed him out the door. "Wait till you see her, she's really cute. I'm not sure if you'll think so, though."

I agreed, more than agreed, actually. I almost felt jealous hearing Simon go on about Chloe. "Don't you have a thing for Liz."

He looked embarrassed for a second. "Doesn't mean I can't keep my options open." I grunted in response.

The front door was already opened slightly and Simon pushed it open yelling for Chloe. "In the kitchen!"

I followed Simon to the kitchen, since according to him, this was the first time inside the house.

I was again reminded of her beauty while her back was facing us and she was putting food away in the cabinet. She was wearing black leggings and a light blue tank top and a bright pink sports bra. Her strawberry blonde hair in a high long tail. She was on her toes trying to put away some cans. I stepped forward and grabbed the can, putting it up where she had tried to reach. She jumped back and squeaked. _Maybe she didn't text me because she's actually scared of me?_ However, once she saw it was me, her cheeks flashed red, just like last night.

"Sorry." I mumbled and stepped back.

"This grumpy guy is my brother, Derek." She looked confused for a moment before realizing I hadn't told them I came over and she nodded, giving me a small smile. "So, what will we be doing?"

"Simon, could you put away everything in the bathroom? Derek can help me with the kitchen since he can actually reach the taller shelf." Simon seemed unhappy that he wasn't the one who could be helping her out specifically, but he didn't voice it.

"Where the bathroom?"

"There's one down here, down the hall the second door on your left and another one on the second floor first door on your left."

Simon left to his task I turned to Chloe, waiting for her to tell me what to do. "Can u put all of these cans up there? I'm going to put away all of the pots and pans." I nodded, taking her spot and started to fill the top shelf with the cans she had. "On the next shelf, but all the seasonings and the bottom one will have all my instant stuff."

"Easy access to your top ramen?"

"I'm getting ready for college."

"Ah."

We unpacked in silence except for the clinking of metal pots and pans hitting one another. "So… you didn't tell them you came over last night?" I grunted. "...Why?"

"Didn't know how to explain that I was making sure my peeping neighbor didn't break an ankle while staring at me."

I heard a crash and I turned around to see her on her butt and a couple of pans around her. Her face was red and I did my best to hold back laughter at the sight. "Yeah. Makes sense. Please don't ever tell anyone about that."

"Our secret."

She nodded, gazing downward sheepishly. She got back up and finished putting the pans away before pulling out some plates. We worked in silence, and once I was done with my box, I turned to see she was putting snacks away in a cabinet. "Anything else?" She jumped and I rolled my eyes. "I didn't even sneak up on you."

"Make a noise or something, it freaks me out. I already finished everything else here. I can feed you guys, I went grocery shopping this morning."

"You drive?"

"Yeah, you?"

"Yeah, but I have to share a car with Tori and Simon, it gets annoying."

"If… you ever need a ride… I could give you one."

I nodded and she smiled, her beautiful smile. "I'll go get Simon."

"I'll make sandwiches."

I set off to the downstairs bathroom first and he wasn't there, so I jogged up the stairs. "Simon?"

"Dude, in here."

I followed his voice and found him inside a blue room that had a large bed and was decorated with movie posters. Simon sat on the edge of the bed, a picture frame in hand. "Simon, this is not the bathroom."

"No duh, I'm snooping. Don't you think it's weird that she moved in the middle of the year and she's left by herself?"

Of course the thought crossed my mind but I had been too busy staring at her perfect baby blue eyes to think about it more. "Doesn't mean you can just go through her room."

"I'm not like, going through her underwear or something. Look, you think this is her mom?"

He showed me the picture frame and it had what looked like a very young Chloe smiling with her face smoothed together by a man and woman. The woman looked a lot like Chloe, strawberry blonde hair and all, but the man had her blue eyes.

"He's the guy who was helping her yesterday before leaving, so it's gotta be a family photo. I wonder what happened."

"Why don't you ask her?"

"Cause I'm not that much if an asshole." I gave him a look. "Dad said not to pry." I grunted and rolled my eyes.

"She's making us sandwiches. Stop snooping." I took a quick glance at the closed curtains, remembering the night before and then turned to exit the room.

We went down stairs and was greeted by a plate of sandwiches. "Thanks for helping me, I should be able to get everything from here. I figure you might have homework or something."

"I don't, but Derek here is a genius and can't keep his nose out of a book."

"Oh?" I just shrugged.

"Don't be modest, dude." He elbowed me and tried to laugh with a mouth full of food.

"Well, maybe we'll be in some classes together."

"Doubt it, since we are in different grades and Derek is on a different level entirely."

Chloe laughed which made Simon feel a lot better after having me scold him. "I hear you all share a car."

"Yeah, it's horrible to have to share a car with the witch, otherwise known as my sister."

"What time do you go to school?"

"We have morning practice, so we have to be at school at 6:30 am. We normally take the car and then my dad gives Tori a ride. After school Tori takes the car and we get a ride from some friends back home."

"I could give you a ride tomorrow."

"Really?" Simon asked eagerly.

"Sure. I need to be at school early anyway and I want to explore coffee shops here."

"We wouldn't want to-" I tried to say but was cut of by Simon.

"Yeah, that would be awesome. Meet you here at 6:15?" She nodded and Simon gave her a bright smile back.

"So what do you guys do besides basketball?"

I almost groaned as Simon visibly brightened at the topic of his hobby. "Actually, I draw comics."

"No way, that's so cool."

"Yeah, I'll show you some of you like, I'm entering a contest soon, hoping to get a scholarship."

"Oh yeah, college applications are coming up. Where are you applying?"

"I want to stay local, there's a pretty good art academy a couple towns over."

"Oh, yeah, I actually went to the high school affiliated with it."

"No way, that place is crazy expensive. Why'd you leave?" I knew the topic of her school was a touchy subject, especially after seeing her tense up the night before. I saw her tense again and cast her gaze downward.

"Oh, you know, with my dad's job we are always moving around. His main office is here now, so we decided it would be easier if we just moved."

Oblivious to how Chloe was feeling, he continued to talk about it. "You must be so mad. If you stayed there, you'd get into the college for sure."

"I'm not planning to apply there. My top choice is Emerson."

"Oh."

"Yeah."

Quick to try and make the mood less awkward, the light shifted to me. "Derek is applying to a bunch of ivy league schools, makes the family proud. He's already got a bunch of scholarship offers for sports."

"I'd like to be a mechanical engineer."

"Wow, you must seriously be smart." She drank from a glass of water before saying, "I don't mean to kick you out, but my Aunt is coming over in like an hour and I need to take a shower."

She gave us each $20 bucks even though I tried to refuse it. Simon politely refused at first and then took it after she insisted. I only took it after she pushed that I needed to go and she wouldn't let me go unless I took the money.

We went home and Tori was gone, no doubt hanging out with Liz. Simon called the shower first so I went in my room to grab some clothes and take out my school supplies to work on homework. They were right, I did have a lot of homework to finish. I opened my curtains and gazed at the blue and white ones across at the other house. I was about to leave for my shower when her curtains flung open and she smiled at me, waving. I waved back. She held up her finger to tell me to wait and I nodded in understanding. She left view for a moment before coming back. She was looking down at something and brought it up to show a gigantic sketchbook. She had written **CHECK YOUR PHONE.** I grabbed my phone to see I had a text from an unknown number. All it said was _Thanks._

 _No prob_

I texted back. She smiled as she received it.

 _My Aunt is here. I'll ttyl._

 _K_

She waved again and left no doubt to go greet her aunt. I left my window, too, but both of our curtains remained open.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: First Day Blues

CPOV

I woke up at 5:45 and changed into plain skinny jeans and a Dracula T-shirt. I brushed my hair and the strawberry blonde strands sat slightly curled at my shoulders. I wasn't a big fan of makeup, but I did apply light foundation and mascara since I didn't like how my blonde lashes looked practically invisible on my pale skin, and a small amount of lip gloss. I glanced down at my necklace, a small frown crossing my face, but then a soft smile, remembering that if my mom were here, she'd be telling me not to be so nervous. After all, it's not the first time I've had to change schools.

I ran downstairs, grabbing my keys to my BMW I3. I grabbed my Black hoodie and ran in the garage, hitting the clicker for it to open. I did so at the perfect time, Derek and Simon were walking across the lawn wearing practice Jerseys and basketball shorts with leggings underneath to keep their legs warm. Their eyes widened as they looked at my car, and I suddenly felt nervous under their gaze. I pulled forward and rolled down the window. "You know how to get to the school, right?"

"Shotgun!" Simon yelled and Derek just rolled his eyes. Although I had only met them a couple of days ago, I was able to easily get along with them and felt comfortable. We weren't best friends, but I'm happy to have such nice, and not to mention hot, neighbors.

Simon was chatting about his classes and how he had a test today he didn't study for and something else while pointing out when to turn. I felt bad that I wasn't really paying attention, just nodding and giving smiles when I thought I was supposed to. I glanced up at my rear view mirror and made eye contact with Derek. His forest green eyes held amusement as he realized I wasn't actually that interested in Simon's conversation.

I blushed and then mentally scolded myself for reacting so easily to just brief eye contact. I tried to ignore the tingling feeling that spread across my body at the knowledge he was keeping his eyes on me. "And here we are."

I turned into the parking lot and drove up to the sidewalk. "See you later." Was all we exchanged before they jogged into what seemed to be the gym. I pulled out my phone and googled the nearest coffee shop, which was surprisingly very close, and drove there to get something small to eat.

It was a 24/7 open cafe and when installed in there was only one guy behind the counter. He was tall and had flaming red hair and nice chocolate colored eyes. I looked at his name tag and saw _Nate_ across it in black ink. "Hi, what can I get for you this morning."

I was surprised at how happy he sounded considering how early it was. I ordered my drink and a blueberry muffin. After he gave my my muffin I turned around and noticed that no one else was even in the cafe, which made me feel awkward. I sat down and pulled out my computer to work on a script I had been writing. "Chloe! Here's your white mocha." I nearly fell out of my seat when he yelled my name.

After getting back up and receiving another bright smile from Nate, I decided to open up my email. I hadn't checked all weekend since I was so busy, and also because I was afraid to.

Most of it was junk mail, and then there was one from my therapist, asking when we should schedule our next appointment. I pointedly ignored that one and went back to writing.

Time flew by pretty fast and when I checked the time it was already 7:30, meaning I was late to my meeting with the school counselor. I cursed and put my things away, throwing my empty cup out as I ran out the door and sped away from the cafe. I parked as close as possible to the front office and ran out.

"You must be Chloe." A nice dark skinned woman waved me over as she saw me gasping for breath at the front entrance. "My office is this way." With a red face I followed her down a small hall and into an office. "Here is your schedule. There will be a student, her name is Elizabeth, who will be showing you around this morning before you go to your first class." She handed me a folder. "My name is Ms. Sheldon and I'll be your counselor for the next year and a half. If you have any questions or want to talk about the future, feel free to stop by. I have already been made aware of the medication you use, and so has the health office so there shouldn't be any worry about needing to carry it around.

"I'd also like to make sure you know that whatever happened in the past is the past. No one here knows you and I think it'll be a good chance for a fresh start. In the envelope is information on some clubs and sports as well as other activities our school does. Our first semester hasn't quite ended yet, meaning that finals are coming soon. I understand you had good grades in your past school, so we may be able to look over some finals, but that's a discussion for another day. Oh, there is Elizabeth now."

I turned around to see a skinny, tall blonde girl standing at the door. "Hi, I'm Liz, you must be the new student. I'm here to show you around."

She actually had a genuine smile on her face, which kind of surprised me. "Go on. I'd like you to stop by after school so we can discuss how your day went and if the classes work for you."

I hadn't even said a word and I was already lead out if the office. As we walked down the halls, I realized this must have been Liz, Torus best friend. She was just as talkative as Simon, and even more happy. "let me see your schedule." I handed it to her and she scanned through with a happy smile. "We have Chemistry together! You're first period is Playwriting and then Advanced Theater. Those are both obvi in the theater so I'll show you were that is. So, after 2nd period we have this thing called nutrition, which is like a break time to get snacks or print something in the library. After 4th period we have lunch, and I'll show you where the caf is if you buy lunch. Oh! Do you want to sit with me at lunch? Chem is 4th period so we can walk together!"

 _God she talks a lot._ "Uh, s-s-sure." _stupid speech impediment._

"Great! So, how did you get into a senior English class?"

I looked down at my schedule. "I'm really good at English, and tested into an advanced class at my old school."

"Cool!"

She showed me around and I was mostly silent as she went on about school history and how she was a cheerleader and I should _so_ try out next year even though it would be my first time. I made sure to take a note of not remembering that part of the conversation because there was no way I'd ever be a cheerleader. The tour was over and she showed me back to the theater, waving goodbye as she left for her own class.

"Hi, I'm transferring into this class?" I walked in to see an older woman with grey curly short hair standing in front of students who were all sitting on the floor in what looked like a practice studio for dancing. It was behind the actual stage.

"Hi! I was told you would be. Please, come up and introduce yourself. Your name, where you are from, your pronouns, and what you want to focus on in theater."

My breath became shallow as I nervously stepped forward to stand next to the teacher. "M-my n-n-name is C-c-chloe. I'm fr-from Buffalo. She. I want to write screenplays and d-d-direct."

"Nice to meet you Chloe. Sit wherever you like. Okay class, everyone go around and introduce yourself. After that we will continue…"

Luckily the attention hadn't been on me the entire class, and luckily the teacher learned not to make me go up in front of the class again, she introduced me herself when Advanced Theater came through. She had me partner with a group who focuses on directing and we all gave each other tips on how to direct actors. Apparently, there will be a student run play towards the end of the year and we all get to apply to direct it.

I wasn't really sure what to do with myself for nutrition, so instead I went straight to my English class so I could get over the introduction with the teacher.

It took me a while to figure out where to go, but luckily Liz took the time to highlight on a map where my classes were.

The door was open and I walked inside to not only see the teacher, but Derek sitting in a desk, writing something down. He must have heard me come in, because he looked up and when he realized it was me, he showed a surprised look.

"Do you need something?" I turned to the teacher, a tall man who was pretty young, probably still in his twenties.

"Uh, I'm Chloe, I'm in your next class."

"Yes, the new student. We don't have an assigned seats so you can sit wherever. Class doesn't start for another 5 minutes. I was just about to go print some handouts for you and a list of books you'll need." I nodded and shook his hand before he left the classroom.

"Aren't you a junior?" I nodded and decided he would probably be the only one I knew in class so I sat next to him.

"Yeah."

"This is an advanced senior class."

I replicated the confused look that was on his face. "Yeah, I know."

"Why are you here?"

I frowned. _Did he not want me here? "_ Do you want me to sit somewhere else?"

His eyes widened and shook his head, shaggy black hair swaying. "No, I mean, shouldn't you be in a junior class."

"Oh. I took an English course over the summer after freshman year at the college connected to our school, and was able to get into higher level english."

"Oh."

"Yeah. Is Simon here, too?"

"No." He seemed a bit irritated when I asked, but before I could try to ask why, another student came into the classroom. Suddenly, the class was full and the teacher walked in and handed me the papers. He didn't even bother introducing me, which I was thankful for, and we began the lesson on the latest book they had been reading. _A Tale of Two Cities_ was actually something I've already read and been tested on, so thankfully this I wasn't just jumping in without even knowing how to swim.

What I didn't understand was Derek blatantly ignoring me. He refused to even look at me.

Class ended and he rushed out of the room almost as fast I run from my problems.

…..

Liz was happy to see me in chem, and Simon was actually there, too. It was funny to see how excited Liz was that I was their neighbor, meaning we would get to spend a lot of time together. After Liz brought up she invited me to hang out at lunch, Simon insisted as well. I wanted to ask him if something happened earlier that made Derek mad, but decided against it. Instead I just tried to focus on chemical reactions with Simon and Liz.

Lunch rolled around and I still couldn't get Derek's weird behavior out of my head. I was walking with Liz and Simon to the cafeteria when I suddenly bumped into someone, making me fall back with a small scream and hit my elbow pretty hard on the floor.

It didn't help that there was a tall dirty blonde menacing looking guy towering over me with a creepy smile.

"Watch where you're going, bitch."

"Fuck off, Liam. Leave her alone."

"What, decided that one blonde wasn't enough for you, Bae?" Simon, Liz and I went red in the face and I backed up slowly on the ground, not wanting to be in his way. "That's right, be scared. You might want to watch your pretty little head." He bent down and took a strand of my hair in his hand and I tried to back up again but he pulled it. "This ones pretty, I think I'd like to have it."

"Liam, back off."

We both looked up to see a super pissed Derek looking down at us. Liam frowned and shrunk back, obviously intimidated, but it quickly went away. A grin spread across his face as he straightened his back and went for to tow with Derek. "Oh, so the big basketball star has a new toy, eh? You might want to watch out in case it gets stolen." I watched in fear as Derek just glared at him. Liam rolled his eyes and walked around him. I was scared they'd might fight but luckily that didn't happen.

Simon helped me get up and Derek grabbed my backpack. "What the fuck was that?" he growled low at me.

"Hey, Derek, calm down it wasn't her fault."

"Why are you putting yourself in those situations? You should have been watching where you were going. Liam isn't a guy you want to mess with."

"Stop yelling at me!" Tears almost came to my eyes and I suppressed them "Who the fuck do you think you are to lecture me? It's my first day, I don't exactly know who I'm supposed to avoid, and he was the one who ran into me anyway."

Derek's hard demeanor seemed to falter at my broken and angry voice. Before he could say anything else I took my backpack from his hands. "Go fuck yourself."

I stomped off in the other direction in search of a bathroom. He was so hard to understand. At first I thought we could be friends or something after how nice he was this weekend and this morning, but now that we are at school he's a huge dick and when he actually talked to me he's yelling at me for something I didn't do!

Finally finding a bathroom I went into an open stall, thankful that there wasn't a line for once, and began to cry. My phone rang with a text message but I ignored it. It was probably my Aunt wanting to see how my first day was going. I wasn't ready to lie to her right now. I looked at my watch and saw it was time to take my medication. I am supposed to take it with food and water but I obviously wasn't up to getting food right now so I popped the pills and swallowed them. The bell rang and I cursed at myself for taking this long in the bathroom, hopefully no one noticed I was crying. I checked myself in the bathroom mirror before leaving and walked towards my math class, otherwise known as the bane of my existence.

I was thinking over if I should just ditch, but decided against it, and I should be able to survive my first day of school if I was going to be here for at least the rest of the year. Maybe my dad will decide we need to move to China, I think that would be the best way to get a new start.

School ended in a blur. I didn't have anyone I knew in my last two classes, which was good for me, I didn't want to have to talk to anyone, and no one seemed to want to talk to me in these classes either. I walked to the office and lied straight to my counselors face about how awesome my first day was. Afterward, I went to the library to check out the books I needed for my classes. With a large pile of books and a heavy heart I slid down and sat on the floor of one of the aisles in the library. _Already lost the first friends you made. Must be a record._

After sitting there for a while I stood again and went to check out the books with the new ID card I received from my counselor. The librarian, a middle aged white lady smiled at me as she checked out my books. I walked out with all of them, heading to my car when someone pushed me.

My books slid out across the sidewalk in front if the school and I yelped as my knee hit the ground hard, there was probably going to be a bruise later. A strong rough arm grabbed my bicep and yanked me up. "Oh, look what the cat dragged in. What are you doing little firecracker? Can't get enough of me?"

I whimpered and tears sprang to my eyes. I tried to get my arm out of Liam's grip but he was holding me so tight it was painful. "Let me go!" I tried to yell but it came out as a raspy whisper.

"Aw, the poor girl is crying. What do you think, Ramon? Should we let her go?"

"Malloy!"

"Shit."

I was practically thrown off and my arm felt limp after he let go. I looked to see an older man in shorts and a sweatshirt jogging over, a whistle in hand. He must be a coach. "What the hell do you think you're doing?!" He yelled at Liam and the other guy who he called Ramon.

"Just showing the new girl around."

The coach looked down at me, and I could only imagine what he saw. A disheveled girl with tears on her face surrounded by a flurry of books, one backpack strap had fallen off my shoulder. "Sure you are. Get outta here before I report you."

Liam just shrugged, put his hands up and turned around. _He's seriously letting them off?_

"You okay?"

Before I could say anything, a yell interrupted. "Chloe?!" I turned to see Derek. _Oh_.

This must be the basketball coach, practice must have just ended. _How long was I in the library?_

Seeing Derek didn't exactly make me feel any better. He was jogging over and I quickly swept up my books and reassured the coach I was okay, walking through the parking lot to my car. "Chloe, wait!" I sped up my pace, nearly a yard from my car when I tripped. Books falling once again, I waited for the impact of me falling on asphalt but it never came. I winced as I felt someone grab my bicep and pull me back up. I ripped my arm out of their grasp, rubbing it.

"Shit, did I…?" I looked down on my arm to see the handling bruise. I shook my head, refusing to look Derek in the eye.

"No, it was Liam."

Something like a growl came from his chest, I ignored it and started to pick up my books. Derek bent down to help me but I pushed his hands away. "You don't have to do that."

"Chloe…"

"What, Derek? It's none of your business anyway. You obviously don't want anything to do with me while we are at school, so why even care while we are out of school."

"That's not it."

"Really? Cause it sure seemed like it. First you ignore me during English and then you're a huge dick to me at lunch and blame me for Liam harassing me. And now, I just got pushed and manhandled and the adult didn't even do anything about it! I don't need another one of your lectures today, ok?"

"Ok."

I looked up at him finally to see his eyes looking down at my math textbook, and he was gripping it so tight that his knuckles were white. My body relaxed and I set my books down to reach out and set my hand on his. "Hey, relax. That math book didn't do anything to you." I sighed and grabbed it out from his hands. "Do you have a ride home?" he shook his head, still not looking at me. "Where's Simon."

"He left with one of his friends."

"Maybe we can… talk."

He grunted in response, and I took it as a yes. I unlocked my car, put my bag in the trunk and motioned for him to do the same. We got into the car and I drove home in silence, asking once where to turn since I didn't remember from this morning.

We arrived at my house and I drove into the garage. It was dark and all I could hear was Derek's heavy breathing. "Do you want to tell me why you were being an ass today?" I finally asked, not bothering to initiate exiting the car. He remained silent, which only pissed me off more. "Look, I'm not having a good day. We can either talk or you can get out of the car, Derek."

"I'm sorry. I… didn't mean to be rude."

"Well you sure convinced me."

"I was just… worried. I'm not very good at showing how I feel. When I saw Liam touch you… I don't know, I just got so mad, and I let it out on you. I'm sorry."

"That doesn't explain why you were being so rude in English."

He sighed. "I really don't want to talk about it."

I sighed as well, getting out of the car. "Want to come inside? I need help carrying all those books."

I saw him faintly nod and get out of the car and walk towards the trunk to help me carry my books.

We went into my room and dropped our bags. I glanced at my window and blushed again thinking about how we first met a couple of days before. "You can, uh," Derek started to say, scratching the back of his neck, looking at my window, too, "You can always do what you did last time, you know." My eyes widened in surprise. _Did he mean peeping? Did he just say I was allowed to keep on him?_ He must have seen how dumbstruck I was. "When you wrote the note and showed me." _Oh_. "And I guess for anything…" My face went red, and I faintly saw the edges of his cheeks tint red as well.

"Oh. Same." _Oh my god did i just give him permission to peep on me?_

"Yeah." We stood there in silence and I was about to say something when he got to it first. "Actually, I should go home and shower. I have homework."

"Uh, yeah. Well, do you need a ride again tomorrow?"

"I'll text you." He grabbed his bag and ran out of my room. I threw myself onto my pillow and screamed all of my embarrassment out. _I'm totally in to Derek._


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: Crush

DPOV

She gave us a ride every morning for two weeks, and then finals were around the corner.

Every once in awhile, when Simon decided to go off with one of his other friends, I would get a ride with Chloe and stay at her house for a while, where we would talk, eat, and sometimes just read in silence.

I found out how much she loved movies. She loved analyzing the script and seeing why actors expressed certain lines in a way, and did research on deleted scenes and how she would figure out why they decided to cut out those scenes. She had a gigantic bookcase for books and another one for movies.

I told her about how I was adopted and although I knew the name of my parents, I've never met them. I told her how I wasn't really sure if mechanical engineering was something I really wanted to do, but it definitely pays well.

Sometimes she we would text while looking at each other through the window. _I think I'm developing some feelings for Chloe._ It was hard to come to terms with, but I started to figure it out when I became extremely jealous whenever she mentioned Simon. I was jealous of my own brother! I knew that Simon thought she was cute and would try to flirt with her… but I don't think Chloe took him very seriously.

We were sitting at her table working on homework when she groaned and slammed her head against the textbook. "Are you okay?"

"Math is literally trying to kill me."

"I'm sure it's not that hard."

"Yeah, says the math genius. Have u ever thought about just becoming a math professor?"

"Is that your sly way of asking for help?"

"Maybe?" I chuckled and moved to sit next to her, looking over at the problem she was working on.

"Oh, this is more like Trig, you have to use the unit circle." I glanced at her and noticed her cheeks were bright red, and I also realized how close our faces were. I decided to take a huge leap of faith and rested my chin on her shoulder, keeping my eyes on her face. Her face became an even brighter red and her hand slowly reached out and rested on top of mine on the table. She glanced over at me and her perfect light blue eyes matched her necklace.

With my other hand I reached out and held her necklace, the back of my hand grazing the bottom of her neck setting fire to my own skin. "Where did you get this?" I asked huskily, something I didn't even know I was capable of.

She looked down and whatever romantic feeling we had disappeared. Her expression went dark and she pulled back, grabbing the pendant and staring at it. "My mom gave it to me…"

I wasn't sure if I was supposed to ask or not. I had told her about my own family situation, but that didn't mean she had to tell me about hers. Nevertheless I was curious. "Can I ask…?"

"When I was 13 she committed suicide."

I turned my palm so it was facing hers and squeezed her hand. She looked down at them and slowly made it so our fingers were interlocked. "I'm sorry." was all I could say.

"There's nothing to be sorry about." She paused, collecting her thoughts. "It's not something I like to talk about. My dad doesn't really stay around because of how much I look like her. My Aunt Lauren… she used to blame me. She would tell me how if I hadn't been like her, she would've asked for help…" I didn't ask for her to elaborate, because I could feel her start to shake against my side. Keeping our fingers interlocked I put my arm around her shoulder and hugged her to my side. She snuggles her face into my chest and I couldn't help but soak in how perfect she fit in my arms.

"Its not your fault, Chloe."

"You don't know that." I set my chin on top of her head and we sat there for a while in silence. Finally she looked up at me and gave me a sad smile. "You should probably go. My Aunt Lauren is coming over today."

Her Aunt Lauren seemed like a huge bitch. Chloe had told me how her Aunt didn't want her to hang out with my family because of some stupid rumors. I didn't want to cause any extra stress on Chloe so I really didn't mind that I couldn't stay. It probably didn't look good for her to have a boy alone at her house anyway.

I nodded, and with great strength I let go of her to pack my things into my bag. I grabbed my basketball bag and my school bag and headed outside of the house. I normally get home before Simon does, but today was a very different kind of day.

Right when I left Chloe's house, Simon stepped out of our teammates car. He looked over at me with wide eyes, and I braced myself for the million questions as I walked the couple of yards to our own front door.

"Did you just come out of Chloe's house?" he asked as soon as I was on our own property. I opened the door and he followed. I just shrugged which only made him ask more questions. "What were you doing? Did she ask you to go over? How long were you over there? How did she even talk to you, I was with you at lunch. In English? Do you have her number or something?"

"It's not a big deal."

"It kind of is! I was going to ask her to the winter formal. If you have her number, you should've given it to me." I tensed.

"I thought you were going to ask Liz?"

"What are you two morons talking about?"

"It's got nothing to do with you." Tori gave us a glare from the top of the stairs.

"It does if it has to do with Liz. Wait, are you going to ask her out?"

"No! Why do you guys think I like Liz so much? I'm going to ask Chloe to the dance!"

"Uh, no you're not." Tori ran down the stairs, completely ready to take on the argument.

"Tori, you can't tell me what to do."

"She already has a date."

"What?!" Both Simon and I yell at her. _She didn't tell me she had a date._

" _Uh, yeah._ Peter asked her."

"Peter?"

"The lacrosse player."

"Chloe is going to the winter formal with a fuckboy?"

"Hey, you snooze you loose. Besides, I thought you were going to ask Liz."

"Why? Did she say anything about it?" I was almost ashamed at how quick he was to move on. I on the other hand, was freaking out that Chloe had a date with some sleaze ball like Peter. I mean, in a way it was better than Liam or Ramon, who have continued their harassment even though I have warned them to stop. If it weren't for Chloe, I probably would have bashed their heads in already.

I ran up stairs, leaving Simon to be strung along by Toris vague words on whether or not Liz was in to him. I ran into my room and threw open my curtains to see Chloe wasn't in her room.

 _U Ok?_ I texted her.

Suddenly, she was at her window and waved to me.

 _yeah_

She looked at me, waiting for my response and ideas sweating, not sure if I was ready for the answer of what I was going to ask.

 _R U going to the winter formal?_

She looked up hesitantly from her phone at me. I waited patiently, dreading that she would confirm what Tori said. She shook her head right when I received her text.

 _No. I don't think so_

 _Tori said Peter asked u_

 _I said no_

 _Y?_

She briefly made eye contact before looking down, a blush covering her face as she typed on her phone. It seemed like an eternity before I received the text.

 _I'm waiting for someone else to ask_

My eyes widened and I looked over the window to see she refused to make eye contact. _Did she mean me?_

Without much thought I rushed down the stairs. "Dad, can I borrow the car?"

"You just got home, what do you need?"

"I need to get flowers."

"Why do you need to get-oh. Oh, okay. Do you need money?"

"No, I have some."

"Where's Derek going?" I heard Simon ask as he came out of his room to see me fleeing the house. I jumped in my dad's old car and busted it to the nearby store. I grabbed sunflowers, her favorite. I paid for it and ran out of the store, back in my car. Barely making it home safely, I parked and ran up to my room. "Hey, bro, I heard you went to the store. You came back so-"

"Can't talk." I skipped the steps as I ran up the stairs to my room and saw that Chloe had left her room. I looked down at my phone to see she hadn't messaged me to ask where I had gone. I realize how it must look running away after she sent that. I was sweating buckets after rushing so much and I didn't even think about how messy I must look. I called her.

" _Derek?_ "

"Can you come to your window?"

" _Derek, I'm sorry about earlier, I understand if you-"_

"Chloe, just go to your window."

" _Uhm ok. I'll be right back, Aunt Lauren, I need to grab something from my room."_

Finally she was in sight. I opened my window and then grabbed the sunflowers I had bought for her and held them out. "Chloe, will you, uh. Will you go to the Winter formal with me?"

She put her hand over her mouth, but I could tell there was a smile. I suddenly got nervous because I didn't hear a response on the other side of the phone. "Uhhhhh…."

" _Oh!"_ was all I heard before she opened her window, too. "Yes! Meet me downstairs!"

I nodded, hanging up the phone and running out of my room. "Derek can you please stop runni-" I ignored Tori and ran down the stairs, leaving her with an open mouth as she must have seen how excited I was. I must have looked like a fool running up stairs with the sunflowers and back down with them.

"Derek? Where are you going now?" I ignored my annoying brother and threw my door open. I stopped myself from sprinting out of my house, but just as I stepped out, so did Chloe. We both walked pretty fast towards each other. When we were only a few feet apart, she finally ran and jumped into my arms, wrapping her own around my neck and I held her there. I had never known a hug could feel so good.

"I didn't think you even liked me."

"God I fell for you the moment you peeped through my window." I murmured into her hair.

"You got my favorite." We separated and she smiled brightly up at me.

"Chloe? What's going on?" We looked back to see an older blonde lady at her door, no doubt her Aunt Lauren.

"One second Aunt Lauren!" she reached up and kissed my cheek, receiving gasps from both houses. Which meant someone of my family had also been watching. "Tomorrow is Saturday, you have practice."

"I can skip."

"No you can't. You always go."

"Its technically optional."

"What time is it over?"

"4."

"Want to go see Spiderman?"

"I'll get the tickets. Meet at your place at 5?" She nodded, took the flowers out my hand and walked back to her house where a disapproving aunt was looking our way. I almost felt bad that Chloe was probably going to have to sit through a lecture on how us lower class people were a bad influence, but I didn't care.

I was going on a date with Chloe Saunders tomorrow.

I turned around, no doubt a stupid grin on my face. Simon, Tori and my dad were all at the door. Simon looked kind of pissed, Tori unsurprised, and dad proud. "What was that?" Simon asked, motioning to where Chloe and I had been moments before.

"She's going with me to the Winter Formal."

"What? I thought you said she was going with Peter?" that was directed at Tori. She just shrugged.

"She said no to Peter."

"You knew I wanted to ask her! How did you know she said no?"

"What does it matter?"

"Boys, settle down."

Simon ignored him, obviously worked up. "You knew I had a thing for her and you just had to ask her before I did."

"You were going to ask Liz five minutes ago!"

"Stop forcing me and Liz together!"

"But that's what you've wanted since freshman year! Chloe actually likes me."

"God, you are so selfish Derek, can't you understand how I-" he was stopped by a hard slap in the face. All three of us looked at Tori who has a pissed off expression and retracted her hand.

"Do you have any idea how much Derek has done for you? He helped you with schoolwork, he helped you practice for basketball. He even helped with college applications and proofread your essays. He always stayed home because he knew you wanted the car. He was the party mom when you got drunk at parties. He got a job freshman year to help pay for your stupid fucking art classes and you are his only friend because you take up all of his time! Derek does everything for you and you are going to call him selfish for liking Chloe? Get your fucking head out of your ass. Sure, she's pretty, but do you even know anything about her?" Tori shifted her eyes to me, and I know I hadn't done anything wrong but I was suddenly afraid she'd slap me too. "Why sunflowers?"

Confused, I answered, "They're her favorite."

"Why?"

"Her dad give some to her every year on her birthday, he did the same for her mom."

"What's her favorite color?"

"Baby blue."

"Her birthday?"

"April 29th."

"Her favorite movie?"

"Forrest Gump."

"And did you know any of that?" She directed towards Simon.

He hung his head low. "No."

"Then get the fuck off of Derek's back." She turned and entered the house angrily and my dad followed after her to give her a lecture on keeping her temper reined in. I stepped inside, not knowing what to do in this situation and decided to go up to my room.

I laid on my bed, waiting for my Dad to call us for dinner when my phone suddenly vibrated.

 _Everything ok?_

I sat up and moved so I could see her through the opened windows.

 _Perfect_


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5: It's The End

CPOV

We had only been on 3 formal dates. First, the movies, next was a dinner out, and most recently we had a picnic in the woods behind our houses. He was surprisingly romantic and way more open now that we were dating. It felt weird to think of us as dating, not because I didn't want to, but neither of us had really dated before, we were awkward around each other and didn't know how to act.

"Your usual?"

"Thanks Nate."

Nate was the barista that was almost always here in the morning after I dropped off Derek to practice. Him and Simon still weren't talking much so Simon would take the car himself. It was weird because we had to leave at the same time. At this point, Nate had my white mocha down to a T.

"Having a good morning so far?"

"Yeah. Today is the last day of finals and then the dance."

"Oh? I forgot the winter formal was so soon. What's your dress look like?" I pulled out my phone and showed him. "Stunning. It'll look great on you, no doubt."

"Thanks. I'm still not sure what to do about my hair though."

"Maybe you should curl it, it'll make you look older."

I scoffed, perfectly aware of how childish I normally looked. My hair had grown a bit the past couple of weeks though, which was nice.

I was normally the only one here in the mornings, so Nate and I had developed a weird kind of friendship. He was going to a nearby community college and was hoping to become a chef in the future. I talked about movies and he talked about food, it was a perfect combination. He was two years older than me and we got along pretty well. "So… who's your date?"

"Oh, I'm going with my boyfriend, Derek."

"Boyfriend?"

"Yeah, he's my neighbor, pretty sweet guy if you don't get on his bad side."

"What's his last name?"

"Souza, why?"

His face turned to a frown. "I remember him. He's a senior, right? He used to get into a lot of trouble."

That made me a little irritated. I was already tired of hearing from my Aunt how troublesome Derek used to be. I was tired of everyone in school looking at me like I was crazy for wanting to hold hands with him in public. I didn't need some coffee barista guy giving me the same lecture. He must have noticed my look because he instantly backed off the subject. "Whatever suits your fancy. But don't forget about us little guys too... looks like it's about time for you to leave." I looked up at the clock and nodded. I pulled out my water bottle and my medication holder, took my pills and swallowed it. I decided taking it before eating was bad, so I'd have to deal with the fact Nate knew about my little secret. He never asked, though, which I was grateful for.

I waved goodbye again and exited the coffee shop to drive back to school and meet Derek. Winter break started after the dance and we agreed we would go out, even if it was freezing outside and we could barely make it out of our house these days.

He was waiting at my locker, a small smile on his face, his hair damp from a shower. "Ready for your math final?"

I groaned. "Don't remind me. The one class I hate the most is one of the only ones I actually have to take a final in."

"You got out of your history and chemistry since you had already taken it at your old school."

He reached out, playing with my hair while I opened my locker to put my notebooks in. I laughed. He was more willing to touch me out in the open now, and I was happy he was comfortable with doing that. A small pang in my chest came when I remembered I hadn't told him about my medication, and I still haven't told him why I had to transfer. I knew he was curious, but he was a respectful person and wasn't going to push me if I wasn't ready.

"Walk me to class?"

"Sure." we laced our fingers together and went towards my math class, were the dreaded final was waiting for me.

As we walked, I thought about how comfortable Derek made me feel and how much I hated hiding this from him. We hadn't known each other long, but he opened up to me and I almost felt bad for not doing the same. A small voice in the back of my head reminded me that if I did tell him, he might reject me, look at me like everyone else had and get freaked out.

We arrived at my class and I suddenly squeezed Derek's hand. He looked down, giving me an easing look. "You'll do fine, you studied hard."

"Its not that…"

"Is there something wrong?"

"You're still coming over after school, right?"

"Yeah, why?" worry flashed through his features. He loosed his grip. "If… you don't want me to." I tightened my hand, not letting him go.

"No, I'm just making sure." He nodded and we parted so he could get to his own class.

I was wracked with nerves, from the idea of failing my finals, and also the idea of telling Derek how fucked up I actually was.

Since it was the last day of finals, school ended at noon, so Derek was going to come over and have lunch and we would probably watch a movie in my room. I blushed thinking about the fact that he would be alone with me in my house. It's not like he's never been in my house before, but this was the first time he would be since we started going out. My Aunt Lauren did her best to try and get in our way, but both of us were taking our time with this, it was new territory for both of us and I'm sure neither of us wanted to screw this up.

We walked hand in hand towards my car. Since the dance was today, practice was cancelled, so he was able to leave with me as soon as the last test ended. I was off, and I'm sure he could tell. His shoulders were tense and his eyes bore down on me with a questioning glance.

"Chloe, can you please tell me what's up before I rip my hair out? Is it… do you… do you not want to go to the dance with me?" He had bursted as soon as we got into the car. I looked at him with wide eyes and was quick to reassure him that that was most definitely not the case.

"No! Derek, I love hanging out with you and I've had a great time… dating you." My cheeks went a little red when I said it out loud. "It's not th-that." I cursed at myself for the stutter. I sighed. "Look, I just… ugh." I faced him, completely forgetting that I was planning on telling him once we got to my house. I reached to the back seat and grabbed my backpack. "It's really hard for me to tell you this. I haven't told anyone about this and it's incredibly h-h-hard to talk about."

I pulled out my small bag that held my pill bottles and handed it to him. With a questioning glance he opened the case and his eyes widened. Three orange bottles screamed up at me, and I became tense, not sure how he would react.

He glanced over them. He pulled one out, analysing what was on it. Quetiapine. Then the next one. Carbamazepine. Sertraline, Diazepam, and Venlafaxine. He was reading the labels with close scrutiny. He wouldn't say anything, so I tried to talk. "I-I-I…" I did my best not to cry. I needed to calm myself down. "The reason I had to transfer schools," I finally began, "was because I had an… episode." He simply stared. "I have heard voices since I was younger, but it honestly wasn't that bad. When I hit high school, it became so much worse, but I couldn't tell anyone about it. I didn't want to admit that I was crazy. I thought… I thought I was seeing ghosts. One day, I saw this… janitor."

I shivered at the memory. "His face had been completely burnt off. Skin was still melting off his face, and it was so disgusting, there was blood all over him and his uniform was burnt too. He tried talking to me, telling me I needed to help him, needed to get something done for him. He told me how ungrateful everyone was for how much he used to work to clean the school, that no one remembered him even though he died there. I screamed and ran, he kept chasing after me. I… god, I was so scared. I thought he was going to do something to me. He gripped my arm and it felt so… so real. That had never happened before.

"I screamed and ran all around the school, and I felt like there was no escape. I was going to jump out the window on the third floor. A teacher tried to stop me, but all I could see was that melted face and I scratched and punched him, crying for him to let me go. They called the security to restrain me. Ambulance came and shot me up with a sedative and I had to go to the hospital strapped down to a stretcher." Tears were coming out of my eyes. I hated remembering. "They gave me these. I don't really hear the voices anymore, and I don't see anything. I'm able to actually talk to people and I'm not getting anxiety or panic attacks anymore. I feel.. Numb, but it was worth it." I wanted him to hold me. To stroke my hair and tell me everything was alright, but he wasn't doing that, and that only made it ten times harder.

He looked down at the bottles and back at me. I stared at his hands, not wanting to see his expression. "My mom had schizophrenia, too. In a way we bonded because of the voices, you know? But that also meant she was off her meds. When I was 13 I had found her body in the backyard, she dived head first into the ground from the roof."

I started the car. He obviously wasn't willing to talk to me right now. He put all of my pills back in the bag and zipped it up. He set it down in the area between the passenger seat and the drivers seat. We drove in silence for a while. We turned the corner to our street and I stopped the car in front of his house. "Look, I know it's a lot to take in, and I didn't want to tell you, but I also didn't want to keep secrets from you. I-I-I wish I wasn-n-n't like this. But, if you don't want to go to the da-a-ance, I understand."

"Chloe, I still want to go to the dance with you."

"But-"

"No, listen." He turned his body so he was facing me. "I get that there's a lot you're dealing with, and I'm going to have to realize I can't fix everything, you know? But… you having schizophrenia isn't going to change my feelings for you. I… I've had issues in school too. I'm a little messed up sometimes too. But, it's just high school right now, and we have plenty of time to figure out our life later. I think right now is the time where we just get to do what we want to do." He hesitantly reached out and pulled my hand off the wheel, gripping it in his own. "And, I want to be with you Chloe. I want to be with you for a while, if you want to be with me. I'm not very good at showing how I feel sometimes, or talking about stuff, but I can try. If you want to talk to me about anything you can. I can't say I know what you're going through, but I can be there to talk."

I squeezed his hand back and gave him a smile. "Thank you." I looked out the window to see his house, and mine right next to it. I drove the car the rest of the way into the garage and we got out. It was winter break now, besides the dance later, and we didn't have to spend the time together working on homework. I grabbed his hand as we walked into my house, a smile on my face.

It made me happy to know that Derek wasn't super freaked out by the medication. There was a wall in between us, one that neither of us was really to chip at yet. But hopefully, this meant progress.


	6. Authors Note

**This is an Authors Note!**

Hi everyone. I just wanted to let y'all know that I've been getting your comments and I really love them and appreciate all of y'all who like my stories!

I'm sorry I haven't been updating very much. I've been currently going through a lot of changes in my life. I've recently decided to transition, and have begun taking testosterone, but have also been having a lot of roommate struggles and had to give my dog up for adoption. I've moved to a new place and am currently going through finals. I'm going to be updating a lot more during the winter!

I want everyone to know that if you are ever going through something and need to talk, please message me. I love talking to folks and I think it can be hard to event alk to your friends. For me, it's hard to think that I'll tell someone something private and they will always be looking at me with that knowledge and pity me. I'm trying to deconstruct the way I'm thinking, and I want to make sure I'm also helping others do the same during this process.

For those who want to know more about the stories here you go!

Letters to Comrade: I will be going through this and editing things. I may add another chapter here and there, it just depends on where I go with the edits. If you have any recomendations, let me know!

The Painted Lady: That story is no where near it's end! I know I've been lagging on updates, but the next chapter should be out by next Friday! I am hoping to update a chapter every week after that for the Winter

Unlikely Duo: Honestly, I'm not sure what I'm going to do with this one. I may just create a quick conclusion.

The Witch in the Tower: I love writing this story, and I don't think I'm anywhere near done. However, I plan on focusing more on Painted Lady. I will probably update every other week in the winter.

I'm hoping to finish Unlikely Duo soon and possibly start another VA fic. What do you think? Do you have any recommendations on which fandom I should write about next? Let me know!

Sorry this is so long. But I hope all of you will continue to read my work. Without y'all, I don't think I'd be here. Love ya!


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Peeping Tom

DPOV

After Chloe had revealed to me that she had schizophrenia, I knew that she was just waiting for me to freak out on her. But, in all honesty, it really broke my heart to see her cry, to see her in so much pain.

The Chloe I knew, was someone so pure and perfect and shy and skittish; all of these things made up the girl I was completely falling for. This is one more thing to add to the list, but it wasn't a negative. I was happy that she was able to open up to me. It's true I've been curious about it all, and I figured it was something pretty serious if she wasn't willig to share it with me right off the bat, but this caught me totally off guard. I felt like I had no way to react.

Luckily, she new I was being genuine when I said I was going to be here for her, to talk to her whenever she needed. When we got out of the car, it felt like a weight had lifted off our shoulders, and the depressing conversation was left in the car. I grabbed her hand as we made it inside of the house and went straight for the kitchen. This was kind of our daily routine at this point. We would come back home to her place and eat a snack and either work on homework or watch a movie. I figured this time it would be watching a movie, and that was totally fine with me.

Holding her hand was an experience of its own. Her soft pale skin made my skin feel like it was on fire. I couldn't help it really. Everything she did made a rush go through me. Her skin was so soft, and her hand was so small; at first I thought I was going to crush it if I tried holding it. Chloe assured me that there was no worry on her end that her hand would be crushed by my own, but I still try my best not to hold on too tightly.

But that's what I really wanted to do. I wanted to hold onto her so tightly she could never leave. Of course, that's incredibly possessive, so I keep those thoughts to myslef. Hugging her, kissing her, holding her hand, these all seemed like blessings. I myself felt as though no one would every like the huge gruff guy that I was. But here was this gently woman who was able to open her heart to me, and now she was sitting in between my legs, my arms wrapped around her waste watching Forrest Gump once again. It didn't bother me though. I loved watching her eyes trying to catch new hidden things in the movie, the tears during sad moments, and the laughs during funny ones. All of this was Chloe, all of this was the girl who I called my girlfriend. Something I never expected to happen, to be this perfect.

A few hours before the Formal was going to begin, I decided to leave to get ready. Well, I left so Chloe could get ready. I was going to shower and watch a video on dancing and then start getting ready, since it took so much less time for me.

Kit was in the living room when I got home. "How was Chloe's?"

I couldn't help the smile on my face. Smiles were becoming so natural when it came to Chloe, my family could barely get used to it. I could tell Kit was happy about it though. "It was good. I ate lunch over there. We watched Forrest Gump."

"That's great." I was about to head upstairs when Kit stopped me. "Hey, come sit over here for a minute."

In that moment I grew worried. I knew what was coming. I still sat down. But, before he could even start, I rushed into it. "Look, Chloe and I have barely shared a few kisses. Sex is out of the question for a really long time. Also, I'm well aware that if I were to have sex, I need to be safe and make sure it's consentual. I know you want to have this talk with me, but I promise it's not happening tonight, so can you do this to Simon instead?"

Kit laughed. "Alright, fine. Go upstairs. You better stick to your word when you say you know what your doing."

"I didn't say that, I just said I know to use a condom and I know how to ask for consent. That does not in anyway mean I know what the hell I'm doing." That was probably one of the most honest moments I've had with kit since I was young. It made him bellow an even louder laugh than before and he just waved me off, allowing me to head to my room. I rushed upstairs and closed my door. I looked across my room at the window and saw Chloe's room to be empty. She was probably showering or something.

The thought of Chloe showering and the conversation I had just had with Kit made my head heat up like crazy. I wasn't lying when I said Chloe and I had only kissed on a few occasions. Her Aunt made it seem like we were going at it like rabbits, according to Chloe, but both of us were simply too shy and too nervous to even discuss it. I get enough butterflies in my stomach when I just touch her hair.

Her hair is amazing. So soft and thing. It wraps around my finger so easily and then slips off. Whenever I'm that close to her, she blushes like crazy and I can't help but want to play with her hair even more. That's our way of flirting! We can barely do that without feeling awkward in the end, sex is definently not coming anytime soon.

Besides, I'm not to keen on having sex so fast anyways. I'd much rather get to know Chloe very intamitely and personal than go straight to the physical stuff. Of course the only thing I could think about was sex while staring into her room and thinking of her in the shower because my stupid father decided to have that talk with me and it won't get out of my head.

Instead of looking up that video on dancing, I decided to take a shower instead, because if I was being honest, I had an issue in my pants that I needed to calm down.

After the 20 minute cold shower, I had my towel wrapped around my waste and entered my room.

What I found almost made me die instantly.

As per usual, my curtains were wide open. And as per usual, so were Chloe's. However, what was no usual, was that Chloe was only wrapped in her towel, and seemed to be laying out her clothes and everything in preperation of getting ready. My eyes widened at the sight. I hadn't seen Chloe in just a towel since the first day she peeped on me. In fact, that day I had been changing my shirt, so does seeing this mean payback?

No, I should be closing the curtain right now, it's not fair that Chloe doesn't know I'm seeing her right now.

I was about to do so, when Chloe finally looked up. We made eye contact, and I saw the blush fill up her pale face. I looked down and realized I myself was also only in a towel, and was frozen, not knowing what to do. Should I close the curtain? She's not closing hers, so if I did it first would that be offensive?

But I couldn't just keep staring at her, right?! She was staring at me. This was probably one of the few moments in my life that I had absolutely no idea what to do, and my brain went into overdrive to the point that there was nothing. It was just blank. The only thing being processed was…

Holy shit.

Chloe turned her back to me, and slipped the towel off her body.

What was I supposed to make of that? The issue I had with my pants earlier was now an issue in my towel. Chloe slowly walked across her room and grabbed a white tanktop and slid it on over her naked body. Next, she grabbed plain purple underwear and small shorts.

And I just stood there, watching her change. She knew I was watching, too. Does this mean consent? Am I a peeping tom? Was I supposed to begin changing?

I could tell her body was red, most likely she was blushing like crazy, doing something so bold in front of a teenage boy. Wait, I'm that teenage boy, what was I supposed to do in this situation?

The only thing I knew to do was to change. I couldn't do very well at that considering what was going on downstairs, so did that mean wait? Was I going to just be standing here watching her? Why did she do what she did? Suddenly, I heard a vibration, and realized Chloe was sitting at her desk, phone in hand, but refused to look at me. I dove for my desk where my phone sat and looked at the message sent to me.

 _Uhh… should i have not done that?_

How the heck was I going to respond to that?

 _No i… i liked it_

I stared at my phone and closed my eyes as I pressed sent. What was I doing? Didn't I just tell Kit that sex was something that seemed super far away? I had just seen Chloe naked. She kept her back to me, but that didn't mean she wasn't naked. I still saw her body.

I suddenly had the impulse to run downstairs and ask Kit to give me the talk but I forced my body to stay. I couldn't let him know what just happened, he would make me move rooms. The idea of moving rooms was way more devestating than the awkward feeling I had at that moment.

 _Oh ok. I'm happy you liked it :)_

 _Yeah, i did. I actually kinda need to close my curtain, but not because i dont want to see you ok?_

 _Ok? What happened_

 _I uh, i just kinda need to be alone for a moment._

Please, God. Just Kill Me.

 _Ohhhhh…. I get it._

Suddenly, I was deceased.

No actually, I wasn't. I closed the curtain swiftly and began to help the pain under my towel. After a while of that, I cleaned up and layed on my bed, wanting to sink in as far as possible until I was no longer in existence. This was so not happening.

I opened my curtain again and saw that Chloe wasn't in her room. I decided to text.

 _Are u ok?_

I was given an instant reply.

 _Lol in the bathroom._

 _Oh, sorry_

 _It's ok. R u ok?_

 _Yeah, I'm good. So uhm, should we talk about it?_

 _Maybe when we actually see each other_

 _Oh ok_

 _Meet me at my place ready in an hour and a half? Then we can get food before the dance_

 _Ok, will do. C u soon_

With that I began to change. I was putting on my trousers when I heard a faint knock. I looked over my shoulder to see Chloe brutally blushing, staring wide eyes at me through my window. Knowing she was there, I swiftly pulled up my trousers, afraid of revealing anything and gave a faint wave over my shoulder. I couldn't keep looking over there, feeling to embarrased, and just continued to get dressed. Knowing Chloe was looking made my body feel on fire, a feeling I never thought I'd ever feel in my entire life. It was something I didn't even know existed.

"Derek! Could you help me tie my tie?" I heard from beyond the door. Simon ruining everything once again. I grunted and pulled out my phone.

 _Simon needs me. C u later_

I watched as she recieved the text and she waved at me. I waved back and left my room to go help Simon.

"You okay bro?" I just grunted. "You look like you just ran a marathon, your face is super red."

"Whatever, give the tie before I choke you with it."

 **So I was rereading this story to see where I was going with it since it's been so long, and I remember why I wanted to write it so much in the first place. This story is the cute fluffy story that I love reading and have been trying to find for DP in like forever. I added a little spice to it though, I hope you liked it!**


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Winter Formal

CPOV

The day had been a crazy one to say the least. I had admitted to Derek about what was going on, about my medication and my mom. It went suprisingly well. My biggest fear had been that he would rush out of the car, telling me he would never speak to a freak like me ever again.

Honestly, if that had happened, I'd probably have a panic attack and would have barely made it home, even if it was just across the street from his house. But, that's not what happened. Instead, the window thing happened.

Yeah, that's right, that's what I'm calling it. The window thing. My innocent little mind couldn't comprehend that I was the one to initiate it, and that it caused a reaction for Derek. The idea of Derek being attracted to me made my head rush. Of course, I knew we liked each other, but I couldn't help that every time I looked in the mirror, I saw this frail, pale, little girl who couldn't do anything for herslef. My eyes were small, my hair didn't help me look any older, and my eyelashes looked like I bleach them every day. The fact that Derek had to… well you know, made everything different.

Of course I don't think anything past what had happened was going ot happen anytime soon, but this was a step in the right direction when it came to my insecuritites. Knowing that Derek was attracted to me made me feel better, and actually caused a skip in my step as I began to prepare for the Winter Formal. First I did my makeup, wearing a soft pink lipgloss, light foundation, a smokey eye, and applying mascara. Once I was done with my makeup, I began curling my hair. I took it into coonsideration after Nate brought it up, even if he was being annoying that morning.

After my hair was finished, I checked the time and realized it that Derek was going to be here any minute. As if summoned by my thoughts, my doorbell rang. I rushed down the steps in excitement, only to here the click of the door opening. That was weird, I made sure to lock the door every time I came home, and I new that today was no different.

When I made it down the stairs, one of the most suprising things happened. There, standing at my door, was not only my beloved Derek, who was looking absolutely stunning, but there was also my father!

"Daddy?"

"Hey, sweetie, you didn't think I was going to miss this perfect picture moment, did you? Besides, I wanted to finally meet the boy your Aunt Lauren absolutely hates." He chuckled, and I couldn't help but laugh myself. He looked me up and down. "Well, it looks like you're just not ready yet. Head back upstairs and Derek and I will have a chat while we wait for you."

I groaned. "Dad, please be nice."

"Of course, sweetie! I wouldn't do anything to scare of your date." I rolled my eyes, gave Derek a simpathetic smile. He smiled in return and waved me off, assuring me that he would be fine. I ran back up the stairs and rushed to put my dress on. Sadly, the zipper was too far up my back and I couldn't reach it all the way.

"Daddy! Could you come help me with my zipper!" I yelled down the stairs.

"Be there in a second, sweetie!" I heard in reply. I figured it was best to ask my father rather than Derek. Daddy wouldn't be happy knowing Derek has already seen my naked body through the glass door, so I was going to make sure to act as innocent as possible. I heard my dad walking up the stairs and he came in with a bright smile on his face. "Wow, you look absolutely beautiful. Just like your mother."

I couldn't help but flinch when he said that. I knew it pained him to see me sometimes, what with it reminding him of his wife who had killed herself many years ago. He zipped up the rest of my dress and rested his hands on my shoulders. "Chloe, you look so stunning. I want you to know that if your mother was here, she would be so proud to see you so happy and doing so well." A soft smile was on his face. "I know it's been hard the past few years, and I haven't exactly made it easy for you, but I want you to know that you'll always be my daughter, and I'll always love you." I could tell he was on the verge of crying, and I had never seen my father cry since my mothers funeral. "I want you to know that you can always come to me. I know your Aunt can be a little harsh sometimes, but hopefully she'll start easing up on you. I love you so much, and so did your mother. But, I don't want you to go through hardships alone, make sure to open yourself up, let people in, and tell us when things aren't okay."

It was then that I realized that my father was most likely worried that I was going to go crazy. That I would be just like Mom, hiding everything until she couldn't handle it anymore and the only escape was to jump off our house. "Daddy, you can't make me cry, I already did my makeup." Even though I said that, I turned around and burried my face into his chest, and he wrapped his arms around me. "I love you too."

He patted my head and lightly pushed me back so he could see my face. "That boy down there is waiting and it looks like he has ants in his pants. You should probably head out soon."

I sniffed and laughed. We walked down the stairs together and I looked to see Derek waiting at the bottom of the steps.

When I saw Derek standing there, waiting for me, I couldn't help feel like everything was going to be alright. I was going to be alright. Whatever it is that we were going thourhg, from this moment on we were going to go through it together.

I grabbed his arm as we made our way outside to his car. Simon got to use his fathers, and Tori was being picked up by her own date.

Walking out of that house, I knew it, I could just feel it. We may have not been together that long, but every minute with him was something I was cherishing. There was something about him that made me feel warm, that made me feel at home. Knowing he accepted me for who I am, knowing that I could really tell him anything at this point, knowing that the man holding my arm was going to be there for me no matter what.

I knew that when I walked out of that house, I was walking out with man I had completely fallen in love with.

 **One more chapter and this story will be over!**


	9. Chapter 8

**So… I was hoping to post this a lot earlier, like I said I would. But literally the day after I updated all of my stories, I accidentally spilled beer on my laptop. However, I was lucky enough to have an aunt who just bought a new laptop, and was happy to give me her old one. So here goes the last chapter, I hope y'all like it!**

DPOV

I don't think I've ever sweated this much.

My palms were sweaty, my forehead sweaty. I was almost afraid my hair gel was going to get washed away from the amount of sweat seeping out of my body. It didn't help that we were outside, under the blazing sun.

Well maybe not the blazing sun. I looked up at the beautiful green trees that slightly covered them, giving a cooling shade to the ceremony.

When the music began, his heart raced. He looked to his brother that was standin to his left, a frightened look. All Simon did in return was give the biggest smile he could manage, and clap his hand on the nervous mans shoulder. A way of showing him that he had his back. They were brothers, through and through.

The love of his life turned the corner, her arm wrapped around her fathers arm. Her father had aged considerably. Grey flecks were elaborately placed in his dark hair that was still vibrant and healthy and slicked back for the occasion. Suddenly, the nervous went away as my eyes drifted to the beatiful woman walking toward the delicate flower arch that the officiate stood under.

I held out my hand to her. My wife, my lover, the person who understood me the most and accepted me. Her blue eyes shone with her own tears of love and happiness and excitement.

"You've been a good man to my daughter. I'm proud to be here, to know that she will be loved and protecte for the rest of her life." He held out his daughters hand which I grasped with little grace. I didn't care if my hands were oddly cold from the constant sweating. That wasn't what this was about. This was about them, about the love they shared.

Chloe looked at me with so much swimming in them. The blueness of them seemed to pierce my very soul. It seemed as though an eternity went by in minutes. It was time to say vows.

"Derek." Chloe began. "You have been my rock, my tether to reality. When I had my worst days, the darkness surrounding me would always ease when you held me. When you told me how much you loved me. When you accepted me for everything and anything I was. Those were huge things, that happened from the very beggining. From the first moment I saw you through my window. The first time you made me jump. The first time you kissed me, when we went to winter formal… I am bound to you forever. I will never let go of you, will never stop trying, will never stop growing into the woman I am meant to be, the woman who loves you unconditionaly."

"Chloe, my butterfly. My angel who came from nowhere to steal my heart away. Highschool seemed like such a long time ago, but that only shows how strong we are, how strong we've become by being together. There has never been a moment of down, never have a waivered. Forever I want you in my arms. The woman who loves me, accepts me, and will be the mother to my children. The grandmother to my grandchildren. I hope they have your courage. I hope they have your eyes, because in your eyes I see the future, I see the universe, and most of all I see the unconditional love you have for me. I want them to be just like you, find someone who means as much to them as you mean to me. You are my world, my everything. Never shall I leave from you. I hope to never make you sad, but I will be there through the tears, the laughter, and the pain. Here, as your husband."

The kiss sealed their future, sealed the last part of the their undying love. The ring that shined when the streaks of sun hit against them sang from both of their hands. They interlocked and smiled to their friends and family. The party was to begin.

But most of all, their lives together had just begun.


End file.
